Board of Trustees

Robert G. Jahn
Chairman of the BoardRobert Jahn, Chairman of the Board of ICRL, was founder and director of the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory from its establishment in 1979 until its closing in 2007. As an applied physicist and aerospace engineer and Professor of Aerospace Sciences, he served as Dean of the Princeton University School of Engineering and Applied Science for 15 years. He has presided over major research programs in advanced aerospace propulsion systems in cooperation with NASA and the U.S. Air Force, for which he was awarded a Medal for Outstanding Achievement in Electric Propulsion. He is the author of four major textbooks and several hundred publications in various technical fields, and a recipient of the Curtis W. McGraw Research Award of the American Association of Engineering Education, the prestigious Wyld Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, former Vice President of the Society for Scientific Exploration for 25 years, and for sixteen years was a Director of the Hercules Corporation. In 2006 he received the Edgar Mitchell Award for Noetic Leadership.

Brenda J. Dunne
President and TreasurerBrenda Dunne, President and Treasurer of ICRL, was Laboratory Manager of the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) laboratory from its inception in 1979 until its closing in 2007. With Robert Jahn, she is co-author of three major textbooks on consciousness-related anomalies. Although she holds a Masters degree in developmental psychology from the University of Chicago, her deeper interests are in the humanities, the history and philosophy of religion, and cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of consciousness that incorporate metaphysical as well as scientific traditions. She also serves as Education Officer of the Society for Scientific Exploration.

Barbara L. Valocore
SecretaryBarbara Valocore, Secretary of ICRL, is President and founder of the Lifebridge Foundation, Inc., which is associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations. Lifebridge’s purpose is to promote the concept of the interconnectedness of all life and one humanity. This is accomplished through the support of research in frontier areas of study, carried out in an atmosphere of open inquiry, free of prejudice and predetermined or anticipated results, and where taking risks can lead to breakthroughs in our understanding of consciousness.

Richard M. AdamsRichard Adams holds a BA degree in history from Yale University, attended the University of Chicago School of Law, and received a JD degree from the University of Michigan School of Law. He served as a city attorney in a small community in Michigan before moving to California, where he practiced law. In the 1970s he redirected his energies from law to business through the formation of multiple companies and partnerships which developed affordable market rate housing throughout the San Francisco Bay area, and in the last 15 years he has focused on asset management. He has served on the Board of Trustees and as an officer of several non-profit organizations, including the Saybrook Graduate School, and various organizations in the housing field. His lifetime interest in philosophy has led him to the belief that anomalous phenomena offer a window into the nature of reality, and he has pursued the study of anomalies both subjectively and objectively.

Ian A. CookIan Cook is a Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he directs the UCLA Depression Research and Clinic Program at the Semel Institute and was the inaugural holder of the Joanne and George Miller and Family Endowed Chair in Depression Research at the Brain Research Institute. He has been a part of the PEAR/ICRL family since 1980, when he was among the first undergraduate students to conduct research at the PEAR lab. He graduated from the Yale School of Medicine and pursued his residency training and research fellowship at UCLA. His research has focused on understanding the relationships among the mind, the brain, and the body, and in translating developments in technology into more effective treatments for disorders of mood and cognition.

Lois WitteLois received her B.S. from the School of Natural Resources, University of Michigan in 1978 and graduated with a J.D. from the University of Michigan, School of Law and an M.S from the University of Michigan in 1981. Since 1991 she has been employed by the USDA as Senior Counsel, representing the USDA Forest Service in water, natural resource, and public land controversies. She has a particular passion for Indian water law, and spent five years working on a complex Indian water rights settlement involving two Native American tribes and the State of Colorado. Lois is also an active member of her local community, where she established a volunteer reading program at a local elementary school that now includes approximately 40 volunteers who come to the school weekly to assist children with their reading and math skills. She also worked for several years to establish a community garden at this school, obtaining over $35,000 in grants for this project. Lois has been a lifelong student of consciousness research and “anomalies.”

If you have a Facebook account, this link will take you to a video posted on the IAC site. The best part: listen to the comments and reflections of Bob and Brenda on their life at PEAR!

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